


Finding the Balance

by SpunkySparkle



Category: My Little Pony: Equestria Girls
Genre: Comedy, Gen, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 09:42:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15410151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpunkySparkle/pseuds/SpunkySparkle
Summary: When strange incidents involving Equestrian magic occur at the local mall, the girls dedicate the whole week to solving the mystery. However, Twilight Sparkle struggles to keep a balance between her duties as a magical girl AND as a student.





	Finding the Balance

“WE’VE GOT YOU NOW!” Pinkie Pie screamed as she ran to the partially abandoned parking garage.

The rest of her friends followed. Rainbow Dash ran up ahead using her super-speed.

“Look! There!” Sunset whispered to Rarity, gesturing to one of the few cars.

The girls split up. Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy flew up to the roof of the parking garage, hiding out of sight. From this height, they could observe everything on the floor. The rest of the girls slowly surrounded a light green car. Someone was hiding underneath. It was tough to see anything, only a small glimpse of movement. Applejack told her friends to stand back as she lifted it with her super-strength. Then she signaled to Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy, who quickly swooped down. Twilight reached out, ready to catch the culprit. Just then, the culprit dashed off. She faltered a bit. Regaining her balance, she flew upwards. Twilight then glanced down. It looked like Fluttershy had singlehandedly caught the culprit. They landed and the girls gathered around Fluttershy.

“A CAT?” Rainbow Dash cried. “Are you kidding me? We came out to an almost-closed mall after dark to find a CAT?”

Fluttershy pet the cat in her arms. “Well, we might not have caught the mall thief, but I’m glad I could help this poor kitty!”

“That’s strange,” said Sunset Shimmer. “I could’ve sworn I sensed Equestrian magic.”

Rarity nodded. “Yes, I really thought we had them this time.”

Around the cat’s neck was a collar with a turquoise heart-shaped charm. However, it didn’t have any information about where she was from. The cat mewed quietly. Fluttershy listened, occasionally nodding and responding.

“Oh, she says she’s lost! But she knows the way to her family’s house. I’ll drive her home!” Fluttershy walked toward her car.

“But what about the mall thief? They could still be here!” Twilight panicked.

“Fluttershy, you can take that cat home,” Sunset said. “How many of you want to continue searching?”

Pinkie Pie was determined. “We couldn’t find them yesterday, but I have hope we’ll find them tonight!”

Everyone else agreed to stay. They continued looking for anything, any clues at all, following every sound and movement. For hours and hours, they searched high and low. There was nothing in this empty parking garage. Sunset couldn’t detect any more Equestrian magic. The mall had long since closed. It was almost 2AM when the friends finally decided to go home.

 

Fluttershy hummed a cheery tune as she walked down the school hallways. She waved to her friends, who were all seated in the hallway near Rarity’s locker. None of them seemed to notice. As Fluttershy got closer, she realized something was off.

“Hey, Fluttershy!” Sunset said, struggling to keep her eyes open.

Rarity still had curlers in her hair and her mascara was smudged. Next to her, Rainbow Dash was sipping on an ice coffee. Even Pinkie Pie had less energy than usual!

“So… uh, how are you guys doing?” Fluttershy asked, even though she could clearly tell they weren’t doing well.

A delayed response came from Applejack. “Not too bad, we still weren’t able to catch the mall thief!”

“Oh no, don’t tell me you all stayed up late!”

Everyone looked at each other, stumbling over their words.

“Well, no! I mean, uh, don’t worry about us!” Rainbow Dash gave a very fake-looking smile.

“It wasn’t THAT late!” Rarity said. “I still got SOME beauty sleep!”

“We weren’t there late… we were there until very early!” said Pinkie Pie.

Fluttershy looked concerned. Scanning the group, she noticed someone was missing. “Where’s Twilight?”

Just then, Twilight Sparkle came running in. “I’m HERE!”

Twilight had visible bags under her eyes. She set down her backpack. It was filled with disorganized papers crammed into every pocket.

“I guess you didn’t get any sleep either,” Fluttershy remarked.

“I got a couple of hours and I had just enough time to finish my homework!” Twilight let out a tired laugh.

“Well, I hope you all get some rest tonight,” said Fluttershy.

The bell rang. Each of them was headed in a different direction, hurrying to class. Twilight slung her backpack over one shoulder. Books and homework were spilling out of it. She bent down to pick one notebook up. Then she tripped over one of her textbooks, causing her to fall flat on her back. The first class hadn’t even started yet and here she was uncomfortably lying on the hallway floor, homework, books, and her backpack all splayed out next to her. Was it too early in the day to start crying?

“Let me help you!” a friendly voice offered.

She looked up to see Flash Sentry, reaching his hand out to her. How lucky she was to run into him! Ever since they first met, he had always been so kind towards her. Always willing to lend a helping hand- quite literally in this case. She took his hand and he helped her up. There were still so many school supplies scattered everywhere. Both of them picked up the books and papers, fitting them neatly into Twilight’s backpack. She thanked Flash for helping her as they walked to class together.

“Good Morning, class! Today we are starting a brief unit on mysteries in fiction. I will assign pairs and you will pick out a mystery novel to do a presentation about.” Miss Cheerilee wrote on the board.

Twilight struggled to focus. First class of the day, she had to keep her head up. She heard her name being called.

“Twilight Sparkle and Flash Sentry!” said Miss Cheerilee as she handed them each a list of book titles.

Miss Cheerilee walked through the rows of desks assigning everyone their partners. Once she was done, she told everyone to get into their pairs. Flash pulled up a seat next to Twilight.

“So, what book should we do our project on? You always have the best recommendations!” Flash said.

“Thank you!” Twilight skimmed through the list. “Oh, have you ever read _Sunny Daze and the Beach House of Secrets_? It’s such a compelling, and excellently crafted mystery. One of my favorites! It’s been ages since I last read it!”

“I haven’t, but I can’t turn down such a whole-hearted endorsement!”

“Great! I’ll check the library later today to see if they have it!”

Twilight was managing to get through the school day. Between classes, she read through her meticulously detailed schedule. Checking off everything on her to-do list as she accomplished them. After school Twilight stopped by the library. With quite a bit of homework to do and a new project she wanted to get a head start on, she was completely immersed in her work. A couple hours flew by fast. Before leaving, she checked out a copy of _Sunny Daze and the Beach House of Secrets_. Now she was finally home after a long, tiring day. Twilight poured herself a cup of tea and began reading. It felt so good to just kick back and relax. A few chapters in, her phone rang. It was Rarity.

“Hello Twilight, sorry to bother you. We’ve gotten more information about the mall situation. All of us are here investigating.”

“I’ll be right there!” Twilight headed out the door.

She entered the mall. Sitting on a bench was Rising Star, a Crystal Prep student that Twilight and her friends had met at the science fair. He was crying. Rarity was next to him, trying to calm him down.

“Rarity, Rising Star, what’s going on?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t know what happened,” Rising Star said through tears. “I was here with my girlfriend…and then she just…”

He stopped midsentence and continued crying.

“Deep breaths,” Rarity reminded him. “What he’s trying to say is that his girlfriend broke up with him all of a sudden and ran off with no further explanation. We were there when it happened!”

Rarity leaned in to whisper to Twilight. “Sunset says she sensed Equestrian magic in the room at the same time this went down.”

“That’s strange. Don’t worry, Rising Star, we’ll figure it out!” said Twilight.

Rarity and Twilight went to go join the others. As they left, another girl approached Rising Star. She had purple and green hair and appeared to be a Crystal Prep freshman.

“So sorry to hear about your girlfriend,” she said. “My name’s Heather Winds. If you’d like, you can continue your mall day with me!”

Rising Star turned away. “No thanks, I just want to go home.”

“Oh, well I’ll be on my way! Gotta go meet up with my friend!”

Heather Winds walked away, mumbling under her breath. “So close! Where is Ocellus anyways?”

The girls met up and decided to search the mall by splitting up. Sunset gave them the plan “Twilight, Rarity and I will search the first floor, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash check the second floor, Applejack and Fluttershy investigate the outside of the mall.”

“We’re sure to find them this way!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Yeah, and the way our groups are divided, each group has someone with wings!” said Rainbow Dash.

Sunset nodded. “And we’ll text each other if we need help. Got it?”

Rarity led her group to their first store. There they ran into Sour Sweet. She wasn’t normally a very cheery person, but right now she seemed exceptionally in a bad mood. Two Crystal Prep freshmen walked past her. One of them was a very nervous-looking girl with coral pink hair.

“Let’s get out of here!” she whispered to her friend.

“What are you talking about?” Her friend whispered back.

The pink haired girl tilted her head toward Sour Sweet. Both of them left at a hurried pace. Twilight tried to say hi to Sour Sweet. She simply glared and walked past.

“That’s strange,” said Twilight.

Sunset came up to her, “Hey, what’s going on?”

Sunset put her hand on Sour Sweet’s shoulder to get her attention. She paused for a moment. Annoyed, Sour Sweet pushed Sunset aside. Sunset stumbled, almost falling into a clothing rack. Thankfully, Twilight and Rarity were there to break her fall.

“I saw something,” Sunset told them. “Sour Sweet had her diary stolen. Now her peers are making fun of her for things she’s written. She doesn’t know who did it.”

The girls spent hours searching the mall. They’d meet up and give updates to their findings. But after a while they weren’t finding very much new information. The groups went home one by one. Most of them opted to leave at a reasonable hour. The only ones left were Sunset and Twilight. It was starting to get late. Without much luck, they decided to leave the mall before it closed.

 

“Twilight? Twilight? You okay?”

Twilight realized she must’ve spaced out while reading. Lifting her head, she turned to Flash Sentry.

“Oh yeah, I’m fine! I’m perfectly fine!” she reassured him.

“It’s just you seemed a little distracted,” said Flash.

“No, I’m all good! Was there something you wanted to ask me?”

Flash set his book down. “I’m enjoying the book so far, but I admit I’m having a tough time with visualizing. I keep forgetting the details, and which name goes to which character. I constantly have to go back and read previous chapters. Do you have any advice?”

“Are you taking notes? That could help.” Twilight cringed at how generic that advice was. Of course he would have thought about that! “I mean…you can create these charts with the notes and refer to it when necessary…it’s just a neat way to organize information.”

She struggled to put her thoughts into words. Showing him a notebook with a few examples got the point across much better. After all, Flash seemed to be more of a visual learner. She pulled a glittery purple notebook out of her backpack. It was one she filled out last time she’d read a mystery novel. Her notebook was filled with all kinds of detailed entries: A chart to keep track of characters, a list of details that could potentially be clues, predictions about what might happen, a Venn diagram, and all sorts of other notes! Flash marveled at her attention to detail.

“Oh, I see what you mean! I’ll give it a try.”

“Another idea, we could watch the movie adaptation after school some time! I know the movie often differs from the book, but it might give you a visual and help you keep track of the characters.” Twilight suggested

“I’d like that. So when are you free?”

“I’ve got something afterschool today, but tomorrow should be good!” Twilight replied.

“Sounds great, see you then!”

The bell rang; it was the last class of the day. Flash and Twilight waved goodbye to each other as they went separate directions. Next on Twilight’s schedule was meeting up at Applejack’s house. Normally this is where they’d meet up for band practice. Today they had other things to discuss.

“Alright y’all, so we know that there’s a mall thief and that we’ve been finding Equestrian magic at the mall,” said Applejack. “We need to get to the bottom of this and start brainstorming ideas on how to catch them.”

“But how? We don’t know who we’re looking for!” asked Fluttershy.

“And the stolen shopping bags are not the only strange thing going on,” said Rarity. “I’ve also been noticing quite a bit of drama! Like how Rising Star’s girlfriend broke up with him, and last I ran into Sour Sweet we learned her diary was stolen and the other Crystal Preppers are making fun of her for things she wrote!”

Applejack sighed, “We’re not here to talk about drama, Rarity!”

Rarity glared at Applejack. “Let me finish! I do wonder if the thief is stirring up this drama as some sort of distraction. Sunset said she sensed Equestrian magic every time one of these encounters happened.”

Pinkie Pie stood up. “Do you think it’s the SIRENS?”

“The sirens?” Twilight asked.

“Remember how you-” Pinkie paused. “Oh right, that wasn’t- I mean, you weren’t there for the Battle of the Bands.”

Rainbow filled her in. “Long story short, our school temporarily got taken over by a group of sirens that could feed off of peoples’ negative energy. But we totally defeated them in the Battle of the Bands! Our band’s so awesome we completely destroyed the source of their magic!”

“I guess that’s a possibility?” Twilight still didn’t understand who the sirens were based on Rainbow’s brief description. “But you just said you destroyed the source of their magic.”

“It’s possible they found another magic artifact,” said Sunset, “Equestria has a lot of those. And a surprising amount of them end up in our world.”

“Sunset, you know more about Equestria than the rest of us. Do you have any other thoughts?” asked Fluttershy.

“Well, I do know that Equestria has a literal spirit of Discord,” said Sunset, “and Princess Twilight says he’s been set free after a thousand years in stone.”

“Do you think he’d cross dimensions to cause chaos in our world?” asked Applejack.

Sunset shrugged, “Anything’s possible.”

The girls continued to discuss possibilities. Twilight jotted down all the information and speculation in a special Mall-Mystery-Solving notebook. Meanwhile, Rainbow was tired of just figuring out what had already happened. She was eager to come up with a plan of action. However, it was tough to formulate a plan with how little they knew about the culprit. They stayed up later than they did at Pinkie Pie’s sleepover parties.

“It’s getting late, you guys should be heading back soon,” Applejack told the group.

“But we still haven’t got a plan!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“And we don’t even know for certain what’s going on!” said Rarity.

“I know, but we’re all tired and we’ve been getting really worked up about this all week’” said Applejack. “Perhaps we take a break this weekend and meet up again once we’ve had more time to process this.”

As much as the girls wanted to solve the mystery, they also wanted a break from thinking about it. They’d been stressed all week. Everyone said goodbye and left Applejack’s house. Twilight was relieved. She still had some homework to do tonight. However, tomorrow was shaping up to be a better day. It was a Friday. All she had to do was go to school and watch a movie with Flash Sentry afterwards.

 

Twilight Sparkle knocked on the door. The woman who greeted her had periwinkle hair in a choppy bob cut.

“Hello! You must be Twilight Sparkle!”

The woman introduced herself as Flash Sentry’s mom and led Twilight into the house.

“My son has told me all about you! He loves your band, the Rain…the Rainbow?” She struggled to remember the name.

“The Rainbooms.” Twilight responded.

“Ah yes! He listens to their music all the time! Reminds me of when I was you guys’ age, I used to be in a band too!”

“Oh, that’s cool.”

“I especially love that song, ‘Get Up and Dance’, the one that you and Flash and your friends collaborated on. Oh it’s such a catchy song! Really makes me want to just get up and dance!”

Flash Sentry’s mom was a very bubbly person. She wanted to know all about Twilight. It was almost hard to follow everything she was saying. Then, Flash walked into the room. He said hi to Twilight as he set a blue notebook down on the table.

“Well, I’ll leave you two to work on that school project, let me know if you need anything!”

Flash’s mom left the room. Twilight began unpacking her school bag.

“So you said you had something you wanted us to watch?” Flash asked.

“Yes!” Twilight pulled out a DVD. “It’s a movie adaptation of _Sunny Daze and the Beach House of Secrets_. I haven’t watched it yet, but it got a lot of really good reviews! And the author himself helped with this movie, I hear it’s really true to the book!”

“Great! So we can watch that and take notes for our presentation!” said Flash

Twilight brought out her laptop and opened PowerPoint. The first slide had a dark to light blue gradient, with the title of the project and their names. She scrolled through a few slides. “This is pretty much all I have so far, but I can put the rest together after we watch the movie!”

“Sounds like a plan!” Flash showed Twilight to the living room.

Twilight set her glasses case on the side table, taking out a cloth. Holding her glasses to the light, she shuddered. There were SO many smudges! She wiped the lenses until they were fully clean. Meanwhile, Flash set up the DVD player. Once they were done, Twilight put her glasses back on and they both sat down. The movie was now starting. Sitting down made Twilight realize just how tired she was. She could barely keep her eyes open. It wouldn’t be such an issue if she closed her eyes for a few seconds, would it?

Twilight opened her eyes. The screen was blurry, it looked like it was playing the end credits. “Is the movie over already?”

Twilight suddenly realized she was lying down on the couch. And where were her glasses? She looked over at Flash. He was seated on the other couch. After jotting something down, he set down his notebook and grabbed her glasses case off the side table. Flash carefully placed Twilight’s glasses back on her face.

“You fell asleep.”

“What? How long was I asleep for?”

“Well, um… for most of the movie.”

“What? No way! That was a two hour movie!”

“Don’t worry, I took notes!”

Having just woke up, Twilight was still in a bit of a daze. Flash had such a sincere expression, she could see it in his eyes. His eyes were such a beautiful dark to light blue gradient. It reminded Twilight of…her PowerPoint presentation! She was ready to jolt up, but Flash stopped her.

“Don’t get up so fast!” Flash said. “You’ll make yourself dizzy!”

Twilight carefully sat upright. “But there’s so much I missed! So much I need to do!”

“Twilight,” Flash said as he sat down next to her, “something’s up.”

“No! What do you mean? I can handle this, that’s how I got through my years at Crystal Prep!”

“I’ve been noticing things all week. Like on Monday when you left chemistry club in a hurry, or when I found you were laying down in the hallway surrounded by books looking like you were about to cry, or during our assignment when-“

“Alright, I get it!” Twilight said. “I mean, guess I have been pulling a couple all-nighters here and there, and not to mention my other classes and-“

Twilight looked down, she seemed anxious. Like reality had just set in.

“What is it?” Flash asked.

“I’m still doing the same amount of schoolwork as I did at Crystal Prep. But now I have other things too, things that I didn’t take into account,” said Twilight. “For example, this week we have to catch a mall thief who’s supposedly using magic! My friends and I have been using our powers a lot recently.”

Flash was listening intently.

“I didn’t take into account how tiring it would be to balance being both a student AND a magical girl!” Twilight sighed. “It’s exhausting!”

“So that’s why you’ve been stressed and tired all week?”

“That’s right. Applejack thinks we should all take a break this weekend.”

“She’s right!”

“But I can’t! We’re the only ones who can solve problems involving Equestrian magic. I feel like I can’t take a break until we solve this! It’s just… the longer we go without solving this problem…I feel like, like I’m letting everyone down.”

Flash brushed her hair behind her ear. “Twilight, you’re not letting anyone down! I know that you feel like it’s your responsibility to fix all of this as soon as possible. And it’s admirable, but you shouldn’t overexert yourself. I trust that you’ll find the right balance!”

“It’s just so hard, and there’s no guidebook to dealing with suddenly gaining magic powers.”

“I don’t know how much I can really help you out with the Equestria-magical girl stuff. But no doubt our friends are experiencing the same things.”

Twilight nodded. “They’re an amazing group and have been great about helping me learn to embrace the magic.”

“I’m glad to hear it!”

The two sat quietly for a few seconds. Flash picked up his notebook, opening it to the page he’d just written.

“In the meantime, I can help you with is this project! I have all these notes I took while watching the movie, I could put together the rest of the PowerPoint presentation.”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that!” Twilight shook her head.

“Twilight, it’s our project and so far you’ve done most of the work. I really don’t mind! After all the stress you’ve gone through this week, it’s the least I can do.”

Twilight hesitated. Though Flash was smiling, he still looked a little concerned for her.

“I’ll still be able to watch _Sunny Daze and the Beach House of Secrets_ , right? I was REALLY looking forward to seeing it!” Twilight asked.

Flash laughed. “Of course! And you know, I wouldn’t mind re-watching it.”

“That’s great! So next time we meet up we can watch it and you can show me the progress you’ve made on the PowerPoint presentation.”

“Yes, but right now we can take a much-needed break.”

Twilight spent the rest of her visit just relaxing. Having just taken a 2-hour nap, she already felt better. She and Flash chatted over tea and cookies. It was nice; she hadn’t really talked with Flash Sentry just one-on-one recently. And when they did talk it was about schoolwork. They caught up with each other, talked a little bit about books they’d read, movies they’d watched, and exchanged stories about performing with their respective bands. It really helped Twilight take her mind off of the stress.

 The rest of Twilight’s friends had also spent the weekend relaxing; it showed when they came into school on Monday. Everyone seemed significantly less tired. That didn’t mean all the stress was gone. After all, there was still a mystery that needed to be solved. But that was far in the back of Twilight’s mind. She couldn’t wait to watch _Sunny Daze and the Beach House of Secrets_ with Flash Sentry after school today!

 

“Hey, Twilight! Nice to see you again!” Flash Sentry’s mom held the door open for her.

Twilight and Flash sat down beside each other. They each had their notebooks and pencils ready. Flash held the remote.

“Are you ready to finally watch _Sunny Daze and the Beach House of Secrets_?” Flash asked.

“Will I be able to stay awake this time?” Twilight said with a hint of sarcasm.

“I’m sure you will!”

“Oh no, I’m drifting off to sleep already!” she said jokingly as she rested her head on Flash Sentry’s shoulder.

The two of them laughed. Twilight readjusted her posture and opened her notebook to a blank page. Then Flash pressed play. They made comments throughout the movie, pointing out ways it differed from the book and discussing what to include in their project. Once the movie finished, they looked over the PowerPoint presentation. Flash had done an excellent job with creating an informative and visually appealing slideshow. He just had to add a few finishing touches.

“And done! Now we’re totally ready to present this next week!” Flash said.

“This looks great! Thank you SO much Flash!”

“No problem! _Sunny Daze and the Beach House of Secrets_ was a really good book. And the movie adaptation was a fun watch, though it was a lot better to watch it together!” Flash smiled.

“Yeah, I really liked it too!” said Twilight. “I especially liked the subtle ways they included the clues in the movie!”

“Yeah, they weren’t super obvious, but they also weren’t like, blink-and-you-miss-it.”

Twilight checked her phone. She had a new message from Sunset Shimmer.

“Sunset says there’s been more problems at the mall today, but that Rarity figured something out! She says I should meet up with them!” Twilight told Flash.

“You need a ride there?” Flash offered.

Twilight quickly packed up her backpack. Grabbing his car keys, Flash called out to his mom. “Mom! Me and Twilight are meeting up with our friends at the mall, I’ll be back home later tonight!”

“Okay, kids! Have fun! Don’t stay out too late!” Flash’s mom replied.

The two got into Flash Sentry’s car and drove up to the mall. Once they were there, they saw their friends.

“We came as soon as we heard! What new information do you have?” Twilight asked.

“Well, I have compiled a few photos and videos taken at the mall during these strange occurrences and I thought we could analyze them and check for details.” Rarity pulled out her cellphone. “And as I looked through them I noticed a small reoccurring detail.”

Rarity brought up a few screenshots. One was of Rising Star’s girlfriend taken during their break-up, another was of the cat, and a bunch just showed random people in the crowd.

“I don’t get it,” said Rainbow Dash, “what are we looking at?”

“The necklace!” Rarity and Twilight called in unison.

Upon closer inspection there was a reoccurring necklace. It had a turquoise heart-shaped charm and had holes in it.

“Now, I checked the stores and online to find a necklace like this and it yielded no results,” said Rarity, “but it showed up every time there was a magic incident.”

“But it showed up on different people,” Twilight thought. “I have a theory and an idea! We’re all going to have to pitch in and help. You’re going to help us too, Flash!”

Everyone turned to at Flash Sentry. “Wait, what?”

Once again, everyone had split up into groups. Rarity, Flash Sentry and Twilight Sparkle went into one of Rarity’s favorite shops. She was getting carried away looking at all the new designs, flitting about admiring all the coldshoulder tops, rompers, rose gold and crop tops. With every article of clothing she looked at, she gave a little explanation. Rarity loved sharing her knowledge of current trends and fashion design! Twilight and Flash couldn’t help but to smile at her enthusiasm.

Rarity returned with a few shopping bags in her hands. “Now I am ready!”

Rarity handed her bags to Flash Sentry and instructed him to walk out of the shop. A couple minutes after he left, Twilight Sparkle and Rarity followed. The food court was where they agreed to meet. Flash found a table to set down the bags. He sat there for about 10 minutes. The food court brought in a decent sized crowd. Flash would constantly check his surroundings, and then check his phone. Awkwardly, he got up and walked away. All the bags he’d been carrying were left on the table. Flash found Twilight hiding behind a nearby display. Despite her attempt to stay out of sight, she was kind of hard to miss: glittery blue and purple dress, pony ears, large sparkly wings- it was a very cute look. She folded her wings to make room. Flash crouched beside her. It was quite a tight space. The two made sure they were well hidden.

Flash leaned in to whisper something to Twilight.

“Sorry, I couldn’t hear what you said.” Twilight gestured to the pony ears on the top of her head.

“Oh, right.” Flash readjusted and whispered into one of her pony ears, “Are you sure this is going to work?”

“I hope so!” she whispered back.

Suddenly, Flash looked frightened.

Twilight put her arm around him. “Flash, what’s wrong?”

His hands were trembling as he pointed to the center of the food court. “I think we’ve found what we’re looking for.”

There stood another Flash Sentry. Twilight glanced at the boy sitting next to her, and then out to the room. They were almost indistinguishable; the only difference was the imposter was wearing a turquoise necklace. The fake Flash Sentry casually took the shopping bags and wandered towards the exit.

“Wow, that REALLY looks like you!” Twilight remarked.

“This is SO surreal!” said Flash.

“Tell me about it!”

Twilight and Flash followed them. Trying hard to keep out of sight, they kept a small distance. The fake Flash Sentry was headed out of the mall, but then noticed a trail of glitter. Hiding behind a sign for the nearby jewelry shop, Twilight texted her friends to let them know. Right as she sent the message, she looked up. Oh no! She’d been spotted. The fake Flash Sentry made a break for it. Twilight and Flash ran after them, bursting through the doors and into the parking garage. Twilight flew up to get a better view. All her friends were positioned at various parts of the garage. She spotted the fake Flash Sentry running by. Now was her chance! She dived. Catching them by surprise, she lifted the fake Flash Sentry off the ground and carried them. Twilight perched on a support beam. Now she just needed to take the necklace. Only there was no necklace.

“Twilight! It’s me! I’m the real Flash Sentry!” He insisted.

Twilight paused for a moment. She could feel herself blushing. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!”

Flash stammered, “Oh no…I mean… it’s an easy mistake to make…would you…uh, mind putting me down?”

Twilight realized she was still holding him and that they were still quite far above the ground. His arms were tightly wrapped around her shoulders. She landed, gently setting Flash down on the ground. Despite how embarrassed she felt right now, Twilight didn’t dwell on it. There was still a mall thief to catch!

Pinkie Pie’s voice echoed from the other side of the room. “Okay, Okay NOW we’ve got you! FOR REAL!”

Twilight and Flash followed the sound. Over there, the girls were gathered around. Rainbow Dash was flying above. Suddenly, another Rainbow Dash snuck up from behind and caught her.

“You thought you could fool us by turning into me, huh?” Rainbow said as she wrestled midair with her imposter.

The fake Rainbow shoved the real Rainbow aside and flew off. She stumbled. It took a few seconds for Rainbow Dash to begin flying steady again. Then she sped off, nearly bumping into Fluttershy. Startled, Fluttershy flew in the opposite direction. As she left, another Fluttershy approached. This one was the real one. Which could only mean Rainbow had just let their culprit out of sight. Rainbow and Fluttershy looked down to see their non-winged friends chasing after the fake Fluttershy. Unfortunately, the fake Fluttershy had just hidden somewhere not visible from the ground. Everyone searched. Twilight Sparkle had flown into the room.

Just then, Flash Sentry ran in, closely followed by the real Twilight Sparkle. The two looked up to see the other Twilight Sparkle flying above them. Twilight snuck up behind her imposter as Rainbow and Fluttershy joined her. Together they caught the fake Twilight Sparkle. A flashing light came towards them, trapping the fake Twilight Sparkle in a diamond sphere. Rarity lowered the diamonds to ground level. Everyone gathered around. The fake Twilight’s form began flickering. Panicking, they searched for a way out.

“Nice, try, but I’m used to there being more than one of me!” Twilight stepped forward, using her magic to remove the necklace.

The necklace shattered into pieces, the diamonds disappeared. Where it had been was now a girl sitting there, crying. She had coral pink hair and was wearing a Crystal Prep uniform. Twilight, Sunset and Rarity recognized her. Wasn’t she one of the girls who wanted to get away from Sour Sweet? As she lifted her head, more tears welled up in her turquoise eyes.

“Hey, what’s your name?” Fluttershy asked.

She turned away. “Why? So you can tell on me?”

Sunset Shimmer crouched down beside her. “No, so we can help you.”

Sunset touched her shoulder. Suddenly, she saw a vision of the girl at Crystal Prep. She was standing by another girl’s locker. This girl had purple hair with green streaks; she appeared to be around the same age.

“Hey, Ocellus!” The purple haired girl turned to her.

“Would my BEST FRIEND be willing to carry my books?” She asked, piling a stack of heavy textbooks into Ocellus’ arms. “Oh, this backpack is too heavy for me, you’ll carry it! Right?”

“Oh, um, yeah.” Ocellus nodded, even though she was struggling to carry everything.

“ Ocellus is my BEST FRIEND in the ENTIRE WORLD!” She smirked. “How about you?”

“Heather Winds is my best friend in the entire world.”

“Aw, thank you! You know, you’re really lucky to have ME as your best friend!” she replied. “Not every Crystal Prep student would willingly hang out with you. Not unless you’re popular.”

“Yeah, I know,” Ocellus said quietly.

Fast forward to Ocellus, after school, sitting by herself, beneath a tree. “Well, at least I have one friend. I just wish we could be more confident, more popular. Somebody everybody loved!”

She noticed something up in the tree. It was glowing a green light. Oceullus determinedly climbed the tree. There was some piece of jewelry caught on a branch. Climbing further up the tree, Ocellus reached for it and fought to get it out. She stumbled, causing the item fell to the ground. Carefully, Ocellus made her way back down. She picked the item up and examined it. It was a necklace, with a turquoise, heart-shaped charm, which was filled with holes. She admired the design and put the necklace on.

“Maybe wearing fancy jewelry like this will get their attention! I’d like to be like Sunny Flare, or Sour Sweet, or Lemon Zest!”

Just then, the necklace began glowing. Ocellus suddenly felt…different. She caught her reflection in the river. Her reflection was changing between everyone she named. First she looked like Sunny Flare, then Sour Sweet, and then Lemon Zest! This necklace could change her form. She couldn’t wait to tell Heather Winds about it!

Heather Winds screamed. “Keep that creepy necklace away! It’s got weird magic! You’re gonna turn into a demon like that Twilight Sparkle girl and get expelled!”

“I won’t use it for anything bad!” Ocellus insisted, “I’ll use it to help you! Watch this!”

Ocellus shape-shifted into Lemon Zest, one of the coolest girls in school. She raved about how wonderful Heather Winds was. A bunch of the popular students crowded around Heather, asking her questions about herself. Soon enough, they began raving about how cool she was too. Heather looked over to Oceullus. She had a few ideas.

As the week went on, Heather kept asking Ocellus to do various things for her. It started with impersonating some cool kids, and then it escalated.

“Ugh! There’s a test in English this week! I wish I was as good at writing as Sour Sweet!” Heather said.

Later that day, Ocellus shape shifted into Sour Sweet and swiped a couple notebooks from her backpack. Next morning she gave them to Heather Winds.

“No way! You got me her notebook! This is full of helpful writing tips! And what’s this? OMG it’s her diary!”

“I didn’t mean to take that, we should return it!”

“Oh no, you won’t! Not until I read it!”

“I don’t think Sour Sweet wants you reading that-“

“Get this! It’s a poem! _In a world full of bitterness, how can one continue to be so sweet, or to remain so upbeat_? When did she get so sappy? Who do you think it’s about?”

“That’s not for us to speculate!”

“I can’t wait to tell everyone about this!”

“You should really give that back.” Ocellus got quieter with every statement.

“If you make me give it back, I’ll tell on you! Besides, don’t you want your BEST FRIEND to be happy?”

Ocellus stopped arguing. The next day, the poem had been shared around and Sour Sweet was being laughed at. It pained Ocellus to watch this. She didn’t want to make Heather mad, but she wanted to make it up to Sour Sweet. To deal with her conflicting feelings, Ocellus put together a small bag of chocolates, artfully tied with a ribbon. Inside the bag she put an anonymous note: _Sorry to hear about your diary, I hope these cheer you up!_

“You want me to do WHAT?” Ocellus asked.

“If I’m going to be a popular girl, I need a popular wardrobe. You’ll be willing to help me out, BEST FRIEND?”

Ocellus was reluctant, but she didn’t want to upset Heather. When they went to the mall, a shopper set her bags down. Heather encouraged Oceullus to take the shopper’s form and steal one of the bags. With a quick and stealthy swipe, she handed the bag to Heather.

The next day, Occellus was pressured into stealing more things for Heather. Shoppers were starting to realize something was going on. A group of girls passed by, Ocellus couldn’t help but to overhear them.

“There’s definitely Equestrian magic, I sense it!” Sunset Shimmer told her friends.

In a panic, Ocellus ran. Finding a place to hide, she hoped no one would find her. It was almost closing time. Surely the coast was clear. She listened in from her hiding spot.

“I heard something!”

“It’s coming from over there, let’s check it out!”

She needed some kind of disguise, something inconspicuous. Ocellus changed into a cat and ran off towards the parking garage.

The next day, Heather had convinced Ocellus to go to the mall again. The two walked past Rising Star, a Crystal Prep student who’d recently become popular. He was on a date with his girlfriend.

“Rising Star is SO handsome! He should totally be MY boyfriend.” Heather Winds looked at Ocellus. “You know what to do!”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Ocellus mumbled.

Heather glared. “WHAT? If you say no, I’ll tell the whole school about your freaky magic necklace!”

She was shaking. Rising Star’s girlfriend walked away momentarily. After a few seconds of hesitation, Ocellus took her shape. She approached Rising Star angrily and said she was breaking up with him. It was quite the dramatic scene. With a confused look in his eyes and tears rolling down his face, Rising Star ran off. Ocellus felt SO bad for him. Tears welled up in her eyes too. Instead of switching back to her own form, she disguised herself as someone who would just blend into the crowd. At least she could get away for a little while, until Heather Winds found her and convinced her to go to another store.

Once she was home, she tried to reason with herself. “It’s okay, He’ll be dating Heather Winds now! I broke him up with his current girlfriend so that he and Heather can be happy together! Tomorrow I’ll set his now ex-girlfriend with someone great! She’ll be so happy with this new person, she’ll forget all about Rising Star! It’ll work out fine in the end!”

Ocellus was pacing back and forth, working out plans to make everyone happy. It was almost 3 AM. She couldn’t sleep; she just wanted to make things right for all her peers!

 

The vision ended. Sunset returned to the moment. “Ocellus, I understand you want to make everyone happy. But this is not the way to go about it!”

“How do you know my name? What else did you find out?”

“I saw that you got this necklace with shape-shifting capabilities and that your peers have been pressuring you into doing these things! You can’t let them use you like this.”

“I don’t want to be doing these things either. But what about Heather Winds? What’s she gonna do if I tell her no?”

“A true friend will understand, and respect your boundaries!” Sunset said reassuringly.

“But now I don’t have the necklace! And I need to figure out how to set things right.”

Twilight stepped forward. “Don’t overexert yourself. Give yourself time to think things through.”

Sunset nodded. “It can be tough to make up for past mistakes. It takes time. But it’s worth it!”

“I don’t know how I’ll fix my problems without using the necklace. I’m much too shy to approach anyone about it.”

“I’ll help you!” Fluttershy said. “Trust me, I know what it’s like to struggle with being assertive.”

“Wow, you guys are really a lot more understanding than I expected,” said Ocellus.

Everyone reassured Ocellus that they’d help her. She seemed a less worried than she was when they started talking.

“By the way,” Rarity asked, “what happened to all the shopping bags you carried in here?”

“Good question,” Ocellus responded.

Ocellus realized she must’ve dropped them when they were chasing her. The shopping bags were scattered throughout the parking garage: splayed across the ground, on top of cars, caught in the support beams. Together they collected all the bags. Once they finished, Ocellus caught a bus ride home. Flash and the Equestria Girls chatted a bit outside the mall.

“Twilight, how did you figure it out?” Flash asked.

“I took notes!” Twilight smiled. “We didn’t know what the culprit looked like, but we saw that necklace show up on different people. That necklace was there every time we sensed magic. So I suspected that the necklace could have Equestrian magic. And the way the culprit kept escaping and going unnoticed was by changing their form.”

“Wow, so you wrote down the clues and figured all that out? I’m impressed!”

“And it was much easier to piece things together once I was better rested and could think things through clearly!”

“You know, you’re a lot like Sunny Daze!”

“Oh yeah, like the part where she checks her vacation diary and realizes she has enough information to-”

“What are you guys even talking about?” Rainbow Dash interrupted.

“A book we just read, _Sunny Daze and the Beach House of Secrets_!” Flash said.

“Never heard of it!”

Twilight looked surprised. “What? It’s only one of my favorite mystery novels of all time! HOW have you never heard of it?”

“I’ve heard of it, never read it though,” said Rarity.

“Have any of you read it?”

The girls all shook their heads. A few of them had heard of it, others hadn’t, but none of them had ever read it.

“Really? I’m totally starting a book club RIGHT NOW!” Twilight exclaimed. “Or not right now. Maybe after things settle down a bit.”

 

The next week was so much better. Twilight Sparkle and Flash Sentry’s presentation got an A+. The whole class was engaged the entire time they were presenting. It even convinced a few classmates to read the book themselves! Things got much calmer as the weeks went by. The mall mystery felt like it happened ages ago, plus, Twilight was taking much better care of herself. She was well rested and made sure to take breaks to do something relaxing. Right now, she was taking a stroll in the park. It was a gorgeous, sunny day and she was at an absolutely beautiful park. There were tall trees, colorful flowers, and kites flying in the air. There was something so calming about taking in all the sights and sounds. As Twilight walked by, she saw someone in one of the trees. Someone she knew.

“FLASH? WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP THERE!” Twilight called out.

“Oh, just chillin' in my Flash Sen-TREE,” He responded jokingly.

Twilight was worried. She ponied up and flew to the tree, perching on one of the branches.

“How did you get up here? Don’t worry, I’ll help you down!” Twilight said, slightly panicked.

“Calm down, I climbed up here!” Flash said. “Some kids’ kite got stuck in this tree, so I’m getting it down.”

She looked confused. “But I thought you were afraid of heights? You seemed so scared a few weeks ago when-”

“Oh no, I’m not. That time, I was just startled because of how unexpected it was.”

“I’m SO sorry about that!”

“Don’t sweat it, I know you didn’t mean to. And besides, I felt safe in your arms.”

Flash realized he said that last part out loud. “And…uh… of course, it wasn’t just the heights. I mean it wasn’t the height I was scared of-”

He was completely flustered. What he wanted to say came to mind, but he struggled to put it into words. Taking a deep breath, he continued.

“I mean I was already freaked out by the fact that I just saw my doppelganger at the mall.”

“Oh I know what that’s like!”

They stared at each other quietly for a few seconds. Flash could feel himself starting to blush. Hopefully, Twilight didn’t notice. He climbed up onto the next branch.

Twilight caught a glimpse of bright colors. “Hey, look! I found the kite!”

She flew closer and picked the kite off the branch. Flash helped detangle the strings. Working together, they’d gotten the kite free.

“So, Twilight,” Flash said, “um…it turns out that climbing up a tree is easier than climbing down a tree.”

Twilight smiled. “All you have to do is ask!”

Flash held onto the kite and Twilight held Flash in her arms. Once they were all set, she spread her wings and flew down to the ground. They walked down to the main area of the park. There was a group of freshmen sitting together on a picnic blanket.

Flash held up the kite. “Excuse me, I believe this belongs to you guys?”

A girl with light blue hair sat up excitedly. “Our kite! Oh my gosh, thank you so much!”

“No problem!” Flash said. “Don’t forget to thank Twilight too! She helped me get it out of the tree!”

“Twilight! Flash!”

They turned around to see Ocellus. She looked much happier than before.

Twilight waved. “Hi, Ocellus! Nice to see you again!”

“How’ve you been?” Flash asked.

“I’ll admit it’s been tough. I’ve slowly but surely been apologizing to everyone and returning the stolen items. After word got out, Heather Winds got angry with me and decided she didn’t want to be my friend anymore. But now I made a bunch of new friends!”

She went around the picnic blanket, introducing everyone. “This is Silver Stream, Yona, Gallus, Sandbar, and Smolder!”

“Nice to meet you all!” Twilight smiled.

“They all stood up for me when they saw how Heather Winds treated me and listened when I explained what happened!”

“That’s great!” Twilight said. “A good group of friends can really help with difficult situations!”

Gallus stood up. “Ocellus, do you want to get back to kite-flying?”

“Twilight and Flash can join us too!” said Sandbar.

Ocellus nodded and checked to see if Twilight and Flash were interested. The group all headed to a large, open area. Flash steadied the kite as Twilight explained a bit of the physics. Everyone took turns. Sometimes the kite would fly beautifully, sometimes it would just fall to the ground. It was all in good fun! The afternoon was spent laughing and smiling together. Yes, things had gotten so much better!


End file.
